Du Guangting (杜光庭; 850–933) was a

Taoist priest A ''daoshi'' () or Taoshih, translated as Taoist priest, Taoist monk, or Taoist professional is a priest in Taoism. The courtesy title of a senior is ''daozhang'' (, meaning "Tao master"), and a highly accomplished and revered is often cal ...

from Tiantai Mountain and prolific author during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Du Guangting made significant contributions to the development of Daoist ritual practice, especially regarding the popular fasting retreats (zhai). Many of his writings deal with rituals and related topics. His works draw on the liturgies and scriptures of both the Celestial Masters and the Numinous Treasure traditions of Daoism. He is also known for having edited and reconstructed the Daoist canon ('' Daozang'') from the libraries in

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. This was necessary as during the Huang Chao Rebellion (880–885) and the sack of

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

, many Daoist scriptures were lost. His most famous work was a short novel entitled ''The Man with the Curly Beard'' (虯髯客傳), sometimes considered the earliest novel in the

wuxia ( , literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of Chinese literature, Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity ha ...

genre. Du also wrote a commentary to the '' Daodejing'' (the ''Daode zhenjing guangsheng'', ''Extended Interpretation of the Emperor's Exegesis of the Authentic Scripture of the Dao and its Virtue''), which is an annotated commentary on Tang Xuanzong's commentary to the ''Daodejing''.Pregadio, Fabrizio (2013). ''The Encyclopedia of Taoism'', p. 386 Routledge He also wrote numerous works on Daoist myths, supernatural stories and legends.

Citations

Tang dynasty novelists Former Shu novelists Tang dynasty Taoists Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Taoists Writers from Lishui 850 births 933 deaths 10th-century Chinese philosophers 9th-century Taoists {{China-writer-stub